I'm Iron Man, And I'm Agent Coulson

Chapter 36 Finding Loki

Hours flew by while I sifted through hundreds if not thousands of pictures, and video surveillance made available to us by cameras and chatter from around the world. It was slightly overwhelming, and tedious, but thankfully we had over forty agents, and satellites stationed all over the globe, searching for a needle in a haystack.

I used the restless time struggling to process what had been bubbling over my body, since my first few weeks at the JDE facility.
There was so much anxiety, and worry, and while I'd been able to brush it off for a few months, able to do little with it since Fury and Selvig refused to listen, but that constant black stain in my stomach, continued to spread, as did my uncertainty.
My body reacted almost violently to Loki, and the Tesseract, as if that rumbling in my chest was there, not only in warning, but as if waiting to lash out. I couldn't explain how I knew that, or why it felt that way, but it did.
It was quick, and flexed and waned, like waves crashing on the beach.
It didn't just revolve around Loki and the Tesseract, but I also feared for the people around me, for Clint, and this new team Fury built.
I feared what Loki wanted from me, struggling to remind myself Loki, according to the lore, was known to be a trickster, and master manipulator, but I could detect no lie in his unearthly blue eyes when he spoke.
But what did he mean by my power?
How could he know what I was dealing with by being in my presence for only minutes?
He seemed to know more about me than I did, and it added another terror riddled block to my psyche.

I glanced up as Captain Rogers walked by my desk, and sent me a tight smile while he walked to the viewing window, a few feet away, followed by Coulson and more files. Steve's posture was just as tense as mine, but then again Cap was the one who sacrificed his life for the stone, in the first place, I'd be pissed too once I'd found out that sacrifice meant nothing, at least not to SHIELD.

I sighed and fixated on the eight small surveillance windows open on my screen. I followed my instincts, even with Fury's questioning gaze fixed on me, as I quickly went through eight countries, and three large ships at sea, listening and flying through information, but still nothing.
I also reviewed files we had on the Tesseract and tried to imagine what, an already powerful, god could use it for, besides destruction, and how.
I was so engrossed in my work I jumped when a hand, landed on my shoulder, and Coulson's face leaned down closer to mine.
"Jesus, you scared the shit out of me," I growled, and pulled my ear bud out, silencing the chatter, but kept my eyes on the numerous pictures and frames that flew across my screen, "nothing yet, but this is like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

"What location are you viewing now?" Phil asked, getting so close I could smell his aftershave. I shifted in my seat when that particular smell and his close proximity gave me goosebumps, but my stomach roared with panic, and not even his presence could calm me.
"Uh, well, I believe it's Germany, at least the language and infrastructure look like Germany, Stuttgart I think," I stammered, looking up at him, "how long have I been sitting here?"
"Almost six hours, and a few agents already looked there," he replied, moving some images off my screen, "so move onto the next, but you alright, you've been fidgeting and sweating for the last few hours, mumbling under your breath?"

"That's a stupid question, and I'm fine, but has it really been that long, it felt like a few minutes," I retorted, slightly leaning back in my chair, "and I'll move on from Germany in a few, I want to give it another look.."
He grinned down at me as I stretched my arms and popped my neck, "I'm sure he'll pop up sooner or later, but did the Tesseract files give you any idea what Loki may be using it for?" He questioned and fingered the files on my desk.
"No, but he took Selvig, which means his reason may not be much different than ours," I postulated, "Selvig's second in his field, next to Dr. Foster, he was needed, which begs me to ask, why can't Banner rig something to find the Tesseract based off Selvig's files? We have recordings, data and information from all our tests, and with his background in gamma radiation, along with that long list of Ph.D's, please tell me that's what he's been doing in the lab this whole time?" I pointed out, as Agent Hill smirked, and raised her eyebrows in agreement.
"He's working on it," Coulson stressed, and backed off.